Saturday, October 26, 2013

adulterate [ad-uhl-teh-rehyt]verb1. Todebaseormakeimpurebyaddinginferiormaterialsorelements;usecheaper,inferior,orlessdesirablegoodsintheproductionof(anyprofessedlygenuinearticle).EX. I don't wanna adulterate the process of writing my articles, but sometimes I just gotta do what I gotta do to put out content.Whose blog do you think you're reading right now? Whose blog do you think you read? Do you
know how many articles I write a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't
believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop
getting online? A blog that practically noone reads would go belly up. Disappears! It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don't know whose blog you're reading, so let me clue you in. My blog is not ending, reader. My blog IS the ending. A guy opens his browser and looks up the Pokémon bible and you think that guy is me? No. I am the one who blogs!

Friday, October 25, 2013

substitute [sub-stuh-toot]noun
1. A replacement for a person or thing.
2. Pokémon. A Normal-type move, normally taught through TM 50 in Gen I & TM 90 in IV, V, VI, that takes 25% of the HP of the user to create a dummy with that HP and 1 additionally HP that blocks all incoming damage for the user until it is destroyed.verb
2. To replace a person or thing with an alternative.adjective
3. Describing something that replaced a person or thing.

EX. On days like these, where I'm trying to type up a few articles in the few hours I have before going to bed early to prepare for overnight shift, I really wish I could find a substitute blogger. Much like the use of the move Substitute, it might be very effective in making me more competitive.

In fact, Substitute users are some of the most frustrating opponents in the metagame. You just need a Pokémon with a move that heals it's own health and/or Leftovers to set up a rather annoying situation for your opponent. Combined with status effects and effective moves to damage your foes, a Pokémon using Substitute can become an annoying roadblock and/or sweeper for your team.

For example, a Gengar with Substitute can switch in, put down a blocking doll, and the proceed to Focus Punch, Thunderbolt, and Ice Punch its way to victory.

What do you think? Would it be wrong of me to use a substitute writer on my blog? Would it still be the same blog? Would it taste like real blog butter?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

EXP share [ee-ex-pee-shehr]noun
1. Pokémon. a) This item, when held by a Pokémon, allows it to earn half
the experience gained from defeating a Pokémon, regardless of if it was used in battle
or not.

b) In Pokémon X & Y, the item is now a Key Item and can be
turned on or off. Doing so results in all Pokémon receiving the experience. They
receive 100% of the experience if in battle, and 50% of the experience if they were not in
battle.

EX. I've always been a big proponent of EXP share because it made training up lower level Pokémon much easier. As a hold item, it allowed you a small boost to training up a Pokémon without having to swap it out and, if you did throw it out first, it got even more experience. When I first heard they were changing EXP share, I must admit... I was a tad nervous.

Heck, when they change any item in Pokémon, it's a little worrying but, and I gotta hand it to them, they usually change things for the best.

In X & Y, the EXP share gives all Pokémon in your party half the experience they would've earned battling. This means all Pokémon battling get 100% experience and all not battling get 50%. This is a substantial boon to those wanting to level a team quickly and makes the game far less of a grind. In fact, with EXP share on, it won't take long for your Pokémon to be ten or more levels above everything you're fighting and, somewhat curiously, your only options to get around this issue is to either turn it off, which seems to just waste your time, and to constantly rotate your team out. The latter solution is what I went with in how to deal with the change.

And I really do have some mixed feelings about the situation: on one hand, the negatives are that you wind up having less of a strong relationship with the usually small team you would run but, on the other hand, it has made the game a lot easier and forced me to use a lot more Pokémon. The fact that I have like a dozen rotating Pokémon gives an experience much more like Ash Ketchum in the anime, except I have no staple like Pikachu. It's a mixed bag, but ultimately a good inclusion in the latest games.

Let's start with the sour, move onto the sweet, and finish with the super sweet and sour formula brought to you by Austria and lots of bodybuilding.

Darth Vader is the coolest villain of all time. Then, they made him an annoying little kid in the prequels and ruined everything. So, correction, Darth Vader WAS the coolest villain of all time before George Lucas created some of the worst dialogue of all time and made Jake Lloyd the most unlucky kid in the galaxy. And now... a pallet cleanser!

Star Wars is my favorite film franchise. Then, they made the prequels. So, correction, Star Wars WAS my favorite film franchise. Arnold Schwarzenegger is my favorite action movie star of all time. Then, he got caught in an embarrassing sex scandal. Yet, corrections are not needed, cuz he is still my favorite action movie star of all time.

Combining Schwarzenegger's one-liners with the prescence of Darth Vader? Genius.

But I do have some qualms with it that I'll detail in my blog articles about my experiences: some newer features are poorly integrated, there don't seem to be enough new Pokémon, & the endgame is practically nonexistent. Still, I think I'm gonna wind up liking 6th Generation more than 5th Generation.

Monday, October 21, 2013

As I play yet another Pokémon RPG, I find myself meticulously catching every Pokémon I haven't caught in some, mostly in vain, attempt to catch 'em all. But really, that's not why I play these games; I play these games because of the experiences created within the game and with friends.

The guys who make videos like this are a highly under-appreciated resource of entertainment, hard-earned skill, and artistic value on the internet. Video games can be a pallet for these young artists to express themselves either for the worthy pursuit of simple pleasure or for the high pursuit of pushing themselves further and further toward the highest heights of their craft.

Archer is one of my favorite TV shows of recent years, animated or otherwise, because of the fantastic cast, classy art-style taking lessons learned from Adult Swim techniques, and the home run writing that often hits a joke out of the park long before you even realize you're going to laugh at it in a few minutes.

Also, Archer says "Danger Zone" a lot and the only scene I enjoyed in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie was the scene where Will Ferrell watched Top Gun several times in a row. Don't ask me why, but sharing is what this blog is about so there...I shared.

Kalos starters [kal-ohs-stahrt-ers]noun
1.
The Pokémon that Professor Sycamore's proteges offers to the protagonist in the 6th
Generation of Pokémon games; Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie. Also included, are the Kanto Starters, excluding Pikachu, that Sycamore offers later in the game.

EX. As many of my friends know, I changed my plans on which Kalos Starter I would pick for my first playthrough of Pokémon X. Originally, I planned to get Froakie & Bulbasaur, but, after the reveal of Chespin's final form, Chesnaught, I changed my mind.

I decided I liked Chespin the most and that it still met my plans of mixing it up by not picking the fire starter. Unfortunately, as cool as Greninja is, I decided that I wasn't as big a fan and figured I could figure out another Pokémon to fit my Water type needs (which, you'll see, is not technically the case, fufufu). I plan to eventually rename it Cptn. Carrot after one of my favorite characters from the Terry Pratchett books.

What does that mean for my other choices? Well, since I wasn't going to be picking Bulbasaur as my Kanto starter, I had to pick between Charmander & Squirtle and, as much as I figured I could just use the event Torchic, I really wanted Charizard X! I named my Charmander "Smaug" and I felt a lot of nostalgia for my first starter from way back in the day. I remember my nickname for my Charmander in Yellow was "Chili", oddly enough.

And, while we're here, I'll talk about other core members I captured for my team:

I'm not sure why, but I just really connected with the Ralts I caught and am excited to see it's Mega Gardevoir form. I need to rename it and I'm thinking Sir Lancelot.

Fletchling is pretty great, despite the 4X weakness to Rock, and I think he is my favorite generational bird after Staraptor. I'm going to rename the Talonflame "Hawky" after Sokka's pet hawk in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Steel/Ghost type that is a "love it or hate it" Pokémon? There are two types of people: people that appreciate Honedge's cool design and strategy and people that hate it because it's a living sword... I don't know if I like the latter's opinion cuz I think he is pretty sweet. I will probably rename my Honedge "Conan" after the sword-wielding barbarian.

Last but not least, is the cutest member of my team Amaura, the new Ice/Rock dinosaur. This little cute creature has a neat typing and even neater abilities. I also noticed that your hand freezes if you touch it's ice crystals on its sides in Pokémon Amie-- which is awesome!

And that's the first little bit of info about my experience with the game. Expect more of my opinions and experience later this week.